A Poem for the Day

Under heaven nothing is impossible.  All you need is a human being with a heart.

                                                            –Chinese proverb

What can one person do, I ask myself.

I see the dangers, the indifference

of those in power to how we will suffer

if those obsessed frack the ancient

rock under us to release the gas they

claim we need.  Scientists warn of air,

water, and earth pollution, of earthquakes

along our fault line.  What can I do?  I

planned to be a token activist, use my

books, my letters to the editor, my work

on Election Day as my part.  In two years

the drilling may begin.  I hear despair

in people’s voices.  They tell me the rich

and powerful have it all sewed up. 

Nothing can be done.  They speak of

leaving the state, of its being ten years

before we can shift these leaders

who have gerrymandered themselves

into office and now attack voting

rights.  It’s as if they aimed their

high-powered rifles at poor people:

 they cut unemployment benefits,

increase the sales tax, refuse to

extend health care.  One of them said,

“Let people get hungry; then they’ll

go back to work.”  How?  Where?

Good people, thoughtful people act

like terrified deer unable to move

out of the headlights of an oncoming

truck.  One human being with a heart

can change that, wake those who

despair, save us from this evil hurricane

set to blow us off course, away from

true democracy, away from civil and

human rights.  People say change

yourself first.  I will.  I’ll write more

letters, put up more signs, send more

emails, talk to more people.  People can

change things.  I have the heart, the will. 

I can’t do it alone, but I can start a

revolution, one person, one word at a time.

Judy Hogan